10-4 Magazine August 2023

Matt star ted operating heavy equipment as a teenager before he even had a license to drive a car. And once he got that license and was able to drive himself to job sites on his own, there was no stopping him. After school he would head directly to a site and run equipment until it got dark. He graduated from high school on a hot Friday in June of 2000, and star ted working full time at the company on Monday morning – and he’s never looked back. Everyone loves classic trucks, and Matt and Doug are no different. However, they also have an affinity for antique tractors and equipment, along with an amazing collection to prove that fact, but we will get into that later. Over the years they have built many antique vehicles, and these vehicles are often seen at various shows, events, and in parades. But Matt wanted to build an “old” truck that could actually be used every day, and with the big CONEXPO show coming up, he came up with the idea of building this unique, classically styled service truck, on a modern chassis around September of 2022. After calling two companies that build quality service truck bodies and pitching the idea, Stellar Industries in Garner, IA jumped at the chance to be involved with this project. They immediately committed to building and supplying a custom mechanic service body and then displaying the finished rig in their booth at CONEXPO 2023 in Las Vegas, NV. And with the show being held in mid-March of 2023, the race was on! At this point, they did not have the old truck or the newer donor truck – they were literally star ting from scratch. After doing a little bit of research, Matt decided that a mid-60s truck, with a butterfly hood, would be perfect. It had to have that classic look, but not be too old, because they were going to be retrofitting newer stuff to it. Finding two 1966 Peterbilts with butterfly hoods locally, both of the owners were excited to be par t of the project, and both gave them their truck for free. Both trucks were complete (one was a long hood and one was not), but neither of them had run for years. Next, they found a used 2016 Peterbilt 367 transfer, which would become the foundation for the service truck. Unfor tunately, at the time, the company was busy with a big job, so they had to put the donor transfer truck to work for a month, before finally “releasing” it to Brandon to begin the teardown and build. Because of this, he lost another month. Now, the pressure was really on. Brandon has been with Veerkamp for almost eleven years, and a truck and heavy equipment mechanic for most of his life. He began by stripping the donor truck of the transfer gear, and selling it off, to recoup some of their expenses. The donor truck was powered by a 605-hp ISX Cummins with 2,050-ft. lbs. of torque, hooked to an 18-speed, so this “old” truck would be sufficiently motivated. Taking the best par ts from each of the 1966 donor trucks, to accommodate the big Cummins, a new butterfly hood was made two inches longer than usual by Cour tland Truck Works. As you can imagine, mating a 1966 cab and hood to a 2016 chassis and power train was a complicated task that included fabricating custom cab mounts, completely re-wiring everything, and a host of other modifications. Removing the truck’s third axle, Brandon reset the wheelbase by relocating the remaining axle. The original rear suspension was replaced with a LowAir system, the front axle was rebuilt, and then an air-ride system from 12 Ga. Customs was installed (dump valves and over-inflates were added, as well). 10-4 Magazine / August 2023 11